Snorkeling West Maui: Ka‘anapali and Lahaina

By Kevin Whitton, and Kyle Ellison

Ka‘anapali has some of the best snorkeling in Maui and since there are a handful of good places to choose from, if one is a sea of fins it’s easy to move on to the next. While the few choices in Lahaina are best kept as a last resort, you can still have a good snorkel in either, which is better than no snorkel at all.

Mornings are the best time of year to snorkel here, and though the summer months don’t bring exceptionally rough waters, you’ll have more luck avoiding large surf in the winter. Always remember if the surf is too big or the conditions too poor, there is probably another place that is calm and beautiful just a 20-minute drive away. There’s plenty of snorkeling in Kapalua, Napili, and Honokowai, and summer is the easiest time for exploring those reefs.

Ka‘anapali

Kahekili Beach Park

In the northern part of Ka‘anapali, Kahekili Beach Park offers decent snorkeling off the beach park and at the far southern end of the beach. The reef on the northern edge isn’t quite as nice as the area in front of the beach park. The reef extends from the shoreline out to about 25 feet of water. Expect to see a healthy amount of herbivorous reef fish here. The moderate depth and easy entry make this a user-friendly snorkeling spot during the early morning hours. At the far southern end of the beach is a rock jetty that also offers good snorkeling, and the rocky promontory here is the “back” of Pu‘u Keka‘a (Black Rock).

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Pu‘u Keka‘a (Black Rock)

The best snorkeling in Ka‘anapali is at Pu‘u Keka‘a, better known as Black Rock. At the far northern end of Ka‘anapali Beach in front of the Sheraton, this area offers the most consistently beautiful snorkeling conditions and a relatively easy entry. The morning hours are going to be best, and the best chance for seeing sea turtles here is during high tide, when the water comes up on the side of the rock and all of the limu (seaweed) falls into the water. Since this is a favorite delicacy of the green sea turtles, there can occasionally be three or four different turtles all congregating in the shallow cove in only 5-10 feet of water. Since the cliff here is also a favorite place for cliff jumping, steer clear of the immediate landing zone, and if you see the wind whipping up whitecaps out by the point, stay in the cove where it’s protected and the current isn’t as strong.

Ka‘anapali Point

On the other end of Ka‘anapali Beach is the reef at Ka‘anapali Point. While it’s not nearly as popular as the reef at Pu‘u Keka‘a, this reef in front of the Marriott covers a larger area and isn’t nearly as crowded. If Pu‘u Keka‘a is a flotilla of fins, take a 10-minute stroll to the southern end of the beach and try your luck at this lesser-visited spot.

Lahaina

Wahikuli Beach Park

Since the majority of Lahaina is ringed by a barrier reef, there are surprisingly few options for decent snorkeling. The few exceptions should only be snorkeled if they’re your only choice. Of the two places to snorkel in Lahaina, the one with the easiest entry is Wahikuli Beach Park between Ka‘anapali and Lahaina. While much of the bottom here is boring old sand, on the far southern end of the beach is a rocky point that can have a large number of reef fish.

Mala Wharf

In the actual town of Lahaina, the best snorkeling spot is Mala Wharf, and since this is a functioning small boat harbor, you need to keep an eye out for boat traffic. The reward, however, is a snorkeling site where legions of sea turtles and numerous reef sharks live under the pilings littering the ocean floor. This is a site most often accessed by boat, but the easiest way to reach it from shore is to park in the public parking area and cross over to where the pier meets the sand. From here, it’s a kick out to where the pier drops into the water.

While conditions are nice most times of the year, the only period you wouldn’t want to snorkel here is if the river draining into the bay is a rushing torrent of runoff. To find the parking for Mala Wharf, turn off Front Street onto Ala Moana Street, following the signs for Mala Ramp (which is just on the south side of the bridge from the Lahaina Cannery Mall). Once you turn, you will make an immediate right down toward the boat ramp where there are restrooms, showers, and a moderate amount of parking.

Kevin Whitton

About the Author

Avid surfer and nature-lover Kevin Whitton has traveled extensively throughout Mexico, Indonesia, and Australia. He’s volunteered as a trail guide in a private Costa Rican rain forest preserve and as a snowmobile guide in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. When confronted with the choice between living in the mountains and visiting the beach, or living at the beach and visiting the mountains, Kevin refused to choose, deciding to call O’ahu home instead. Now when he waits for a wave at one of his favorite windward or North Shore surf breaks, he can gaze at the verdant mountains and revel in the best of both worlds.

Kevin is the author of the award-winning Green Hawai’i: A Guide to a Sustainable and Energy Efficient Home and A Pocket Guide to Hawai’i’s Botanical Gardens. He writes for Hawai’i’s most notable publications, is active in the island’s surf media, and is the co-founder and editor of GREEN: Hawai’i’s Sustainable Living Magazine.

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Kyle Ellison

About the Author

Kyle Ellison began researching the island of Maui when he first moved there at the tender age of five. Back then, the island still had three sugar mills, Wailea didn’t exist, and early mornings were punctuated by the sound of bombs falling on Kaho’olawe. The island has changed considerably since then, but Kyle’s love of Maui has remained.

A Maui resident, surfer, and diver, Kyle has led groups of divers as a divemaster at Molokini, led scuba tours on the island of Lana’i, hosted hundreds of hikers on Maui, and proposed to his wife off the island of Moloka’i while diving with hammerhead sharks. Kyle’s son can usually be found splashing in the water at Baldwin Beach.

As a freelance writer, Kyle’s work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Travel + Leisure, Maui No Ka ‘Oi, Ka’anapali Magazine, AOL Travel, Escape, Journey Viator, Gadling, Afar, and the Huffington Post, and on the Travel Channel. His travels have taken him to 65 countries and 49 U.S. states. He also helped found a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships for students in Cambodia.

For more info on Kyle and his travels, visit him at kylethevagabond.com, or on Twitter and Instagram @kylethevagabond.

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